Town election: Would a fall date increase participation?

Friday

Mar 28, 2014 at 6:23 AM

By Brian BensonStaff Writer

Though there were only two contested town-wide races in this week’s election, Ron Wright still came to Wilson Middle School to cast his ballot."I always vote," Wright said, noting it is important to exercise that right.But, Wright, 79, and some other voters said people in general are less committed to learn about candidates than they have been in the past.Voter turnout in Tuesday’s town election was 7.2 percent, with 1,620, of the 22,568 registered voters casting ballots, according to unofficial results.School Committee incumbents Dirk Coburn (951 votes) and Amy Mistrot (1,116 votes) beat challenger Michael Dempsey (438 votes). Board of Health incumbent Ian Wong defeated challenger Robert Canning 1,056 to 310.Ten to 16 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the previous three town elections, while the 2010 contest, which featured override questions about the high school and Community-Senior Center projects, drew 38 percent of registered voters."That’s the difference right there," Mistrot said of having a large issue on the ballot.Mistrot said engaging residents in the issues will be critical as school leaders look at a Kennedy Middle School building project and challenges funding the operating budget in future years. "Voter engagement or taxpayer engagement is one of our greatest challenges," she said.Even people who do not have children in the school system should care about a school issue or race because it affects how their tax money is spent, Mistrot said.Christopher Latimer, chairman of the political science department at Framingham State University, said local elections traditionally have lower voter turnout than state or presidential elections.Decisions made by people who serve in local government may have more of an impact on a voter’s life than national issues, but voters "don’t think about that," Latimer said.Latimer said holding a local election at the same time as the state and national contests would likely help turnout, though people still may not know much about the local candidates.Coburn said low voter turnout is a result of many factors including limited coverage of the election in local media, no selectmen race at the top of the ballot and little other publicity."Just awareness of whether there was an election was probably pretty low," Coburn said.Coburn said he hopes leaders will look at whether communications about the election can be improved or done earlier.Town Clerk Diane Packer said leaders at one point considered posting information from candidates on the town website but decided not to since town government should be impartial.Holding the election on the same day as a statewide and national election would still require voters to take and fill out separate ballots and require more election workers on that day. It is also more challenging for towns, whose elections are not based on parties the way state and national elections have Democrats, Republicans and candidates from other parties, she said.Packer said more discussions, debates and contested races will help but "it’s got to be an effort the community wants to put forward."Jimmy Brown, of Natick Forever, a local political action committee that organizes candidates forums, said people need to understand that tax rates, fees and town services come from decisions elected and appointed officials makeBrown said more people need to run for office to spur greater voter interest in elections. That could happen next year, given that the Board of Selectmen likely became more moderate with John Connolly joining the board in an uncontested race. Incumbent Nicholas Mabardy was reelected."I think the participation needs to come before the election so there are different views (for voters to choose from)," he said. "That’s only going to come by an educated public that knows what’s going on."Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @bbensonmwdn.